More children in Wales are being educated at home, new figures show

The Welsh Government figures show 1,225 children of compulsory school age received home tuition last year compared to 1,103 in 2012-13.

The number of Welsh pupils being educated at home rose sharply last year, research has shown.

Numbers went up by 11% as 122 more children of compulsory school age received home tuition in Wales during 2013-14 than the previous year.

Figures released by the Welsh Government show that 1,225 pupils were taken out of local authority education to be taught at home last year – compared to 1,103 in 2012-13.

The snapshot found that the area with the most children being home-schooled was Cardiff with 142, closely followed by Carmarthenshire, with 122.

Powys and Ceredigion were the only other authorities in Wales with more than 100 pupils of compulsory school age electively educated at home, while Blaenau Gwent (19) and Merthyr Tydfil (13) had the fewest.

Other statistics showed a sharp rise in the number of pupils attending pupil referral units (PRUs), with 38 more children on roll last year than in 2012-13. Pupils registered at a single PRU rose to 639 from 601, although boys (474) continue to dominate in the gender stakes.

PRUs are generally short-stay centres for pupils who are educated other than at maintained or special schools, and they vary considerably in size and function. They admit pupils with behavioural difficulties and others who are vulnerable because of their health or social and emotional difficulties.

Powys and Carmarthenshire reported the biggest rises in pupils taken out of local authority education to be taught at home last year.

But while enrolments at PRUs were rising, local authorities in Wales were funding fewer pupils to study at independent schools last year.

Numbers have fallen from 241 to 154, with pupils aged 16 and under educated by alternate training providers also down from 52 to 50. According to the annual schools census, there were 465,081 pupils in maintained schools in Wales in January this year.

The Welsh Government unveiled in 2012 plans to introduce a system that would ensure children educated at home are properly registered. A consultation on the creation of a compulsory registration system ran for 12 weeks and yielded more than 550 responses from stakeholders.

But the process was delayed and former Education Minister Leighton Andrews asked officials to undertake a “thorough analysis” of the consultation responses, to ensure all views were fully considered.

Education Minister Huw Lewis has since dropped the proposals, following strong opposition from home-educating parents, children and organisations representing families.

A spokesman for the Welsh Government said: “One local authority was unable to supply data on the number of learners of compulsory school age who were educated at home in 2012-13. This accounts for around one quarter of the increase in numbers reported for 2013-14, compared to 2012-13.

“Parents have a right to educate their child or children at home. Parents notify their local authority that they are home educating their children on a voluntary basis (unless they have withdrawn their child from school), therefore not all electively home educated children will be captured within this data.

“There is a duty on local authorities to identify, so far as it is possible to do so, all learners of compulsory school age in their area who are not on a school roll. It is likely that the increase is due to greater awareness of home educating families and better data collection by local authorities.”

Non-statutory guidance on home education will be distributed to local authorities by May 2015.

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